eVillage in action - challenging the sexual health stigma in London

NHS London wanted to design an impactful communications campaign that could be used amongst the wider PCT community to help prevent HIV infection and to tackle the issue of late diagnosis. NHS London were interested in exploring the research possibilities offered by Insight's eVillage - a market research online community (MROC) - to engage HIV specialists, nurses and GPs in the development of a genuinely compelling new public health message. Insight initially conducted a series of traditional focus groups that brought all the relevant hypotheses, concerns, insights and issues to the surface. These were then used to develop all the relevant materials for the eVillage community to engage and work with. The online research involved the use of bulletin boards, video uploading, and web assisted materials assessment, which allowed the ad agency, Insight and the PCT to develop and test a range of sexual health messages. The outputs from the research indicated a clear need for a mind shift in the approach to treatment, and a 'normalisation' in the approach to HIV testing aimed at young sexually active people. This lead to the development of a communications campaign that delivered the key messages in ways that were likely to work best for the target audiences. The eVillage community showed a high level of engagement throughout the research programme, and demonstrated that additional value can be added through the effective integration of both traditional and leading-edge market research approaches.